Elastic Organic Crystals of π-Conjugated Molecules: New Concept for Materials Chemistry

It is generally believed that organic single crystals composed of a densely packed arrangement of anisotropic, organic small molecules are less useful as functional materials due to their mechanically inflexible and brittle nature, compared to polymers bearing flexible chains and thereby exhibiting viscoelasticity. Nevertheless, organic crystals have attracted much attention because of their tunable optoelectronic properties and a variety of elegant crystal habits and unique ordered or disordered molecular packings arising from the anisotropic molecular structures. However, the recent emergence of flexible organic crystal materials showing plasticity and elasticity has considerably changed the concept of organic single crystals. In this review, the author summarizes the state-of-the-art development of flexible organic crystal materials, especially functional elastic organic crystals which are expected to provide a foothold for the next generation of organic crystal materials.